Antrodia camphorata is also called Niu Zang Zhi or Niu Zang mushroom (Antrodia cinnamomea), which belongs to genus Antrodia, family Polyporaceae, order Aphyllophorales, and is a perennial mushroom and a specific fungus in Taiwan. It only parasitizes in the inner wall of the hollow trunk of Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata or on the moist surface of the dead, rotting trunk of Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata in a mountainous area of Taiwan in the altitude of 200 meters to 2000 meters. As the main aromatics in Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata are terpenoids, not camphor, which are aromatic compounds present in Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Presl, the once used scientific name Antrodia camphorata for Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata was corrected as Antrodia cinnamomea by Mushroom cultivation experts Dongzhu Zhang and Wenneng Zhou.
The fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata is grown from the hollow trunk of Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata with an initial flat shape, and grows by adhering to the inner surface of the trunk, and then the anterior edge of the fruiting body curls away from the trunk and is warped upwards, and forms a horseshoe shape or irregular shape. The longer the fruiting body grows, the closer the contact is, and it is lignified or suberized gradually. The fruiting body is in a platy-shaped or bell-shaped appearance and has a strong bitter smell. The upper surface of the annual or perennial fruiting body is tangerine, orange-brown to light flesh colored, then turns into brown. The surface is smooth and has concentric circles, and the ostioles are in the shape of circle or polygon and have spores therein. The fresh surface of the ostioles of the fruiting body is tangerine, orange-brown to light flesh colored, and the aged surface is reddish-brown colored.
Due to the detoxification for food poisoning, diarrhea, vomit, pesticide poisoning and so on, Antrodia camphorata is an excellent antidote and also considered to have desired effect on cancer or chronic diseases. Common fungus cannot grow on a camphor tree, as it has strong fragrance and can repel insects, only Antrodia camphorata can parasitize on Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata indigenous to Taiwan, not similar tress, such as, common camphor tree, and Cinnamomum Camphora. Therefore, the productivity of Antrodia camphorata is scarce. Further, Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata, on which Antrodia camphorata grows, is a first class protected tree species, and it is forbidden to harvest Antrodia camphorata as an appendix, thus Antrodia camphorata is in shortage and cannot meet the demand of the market. Therefore Antrodia camphorata is also called “Taiwan Ruby”, only produced in Nanzhuang, Miaoli, and Liugui, Gaoxiong, and so on.
The therapeutic effects of Antrodia camphorata for chronic diseases and cancer have been recognized and accepted from long time ago, thus further increasing the price of Antrodia camphorata in the market. In fact, it has been indicated by scientific research works that the ability of Antrodia camphorata to kill the lymphoma cells p-388 of mouse is remarkable. The hot-water soluble polysaccharides in Antrodia camphorata mycelia can stimulate lymphocyte in the blood of a normal adult to produce cytokine to kill human lymphoma U-937 cells, and also can increase the phagocytosis ability of macrophage, promote the proliferation of splenocytes and the secretion of interleukin IL-5. Additionally, Antrodia camphorata also can inhibit the growth of Streptococcus aureus and Trichophytone mentagrophytes as well as numerous intestinal floras. Generally, Antrodia camphorata has the effects of purifying the blood, removing toxic substances, tonifying kidney, protecting liver, regulating intestine, strengthening the heart, adjusting blood pressure, building body, resisting cold, anti bacteria, suppressing cough, eliminating sputum, alleviating pain, tranquilizing, anti cancer, relieving tumor, expelling toxin, and so on, thus it is a medicinal fungus with extensive effectiveness.
For the purpose of popularizing the use of Antrodia camphorata, stabilizing the high price in the market, and maintaining the long-term protection of Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata, large-scaled artificial culture of Antrodia camphorata is a major bottleneck to be broken through by many related industries. Currently, most of the artificial culture methods of Antrodia camphorata include culturing mycelia by liquid fermentation or solid fermentation, then inoculating the strains in a space bag, to grow a fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata. However, the growth of the mycelia is not well when being cultured by the existing technology, and the inclusion is loose and miscellaneous fungus is likely to grow when the fruiting body is cultured indoors by using the space bag. Additionally, compared with the fruiting body of wild Antrodia camphorata, the fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata cultured by using the space bag is thinner, and the content of triterpenoids is significant hard from that of wild Antrodia camphorata. Further, the space bag is difficult to be degraded in the soil, thus causing an environmental issue. Nowadays, although space bags made of biodegradable material are available, they are undoubtedly a burden on the cost of applying in the large-scaled culture of fungus and mushrooms due to the high price. Most importantly, when infecting a wood segment the spore of wild Antrodia camphorata can only infect Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata and parasitize therein to form a fruiting body due to the obvious host specificity. For the existing technology, artificial cultured Antrodia camphorata mycelia cannot infect the wood segments of different tree species. Therefore, the culture of the fruiting body is carried out directly by using the wood segment of wild Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata infected with the spore of Antrodia camphorata. However, this artificial culture method is not suitable for growing Antrodia camphorata culture with a lot of solid fruiting body, and the contents of triterpenoids and polysaccharides are also limited.
As most of the commercial available fruiting bodies are thin annual fungi, and thick and solid perennial ones are rare, there is a large demand for Antrodia camphorata in the market. However, it is difficult to get natural wild Antrodia camphorata, thus there is an extremely large pressure in harvest. Therefore, developing an artificial culture method of Antrodia camphorata with a thick and solid fruiting body and enriched with triterpenoids by a wood segment, so as to effectively supply Antrodia camphorata with good quality, is a technical field deserving further study in the field.